All Roads Lead to our Medieval Distribution of Income

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Tuesday February 09, 2010 · 6:45 AM PST

2010/02/09 · 06:45

What do Americans think about the distribution of income? Dan Ariely (MIT) asked about 10,000 of us. Here's what he found.

Americans think that the top 20 percent of households should get about 30 percent of the wealth.

Americans think that the top 20 percent of households actually get 67 percent of the wealth.

What's the truth: The top 20 percent of households control 85 percent of the wealth. Details here.

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/...

Think about it. Line up 100 people and put a pile of stuff in front of them. The first person gets one third. By the time you get to the 20th person, 85 percent of the stuff has been handed out. The last 15 percent is for the other 80 people. By the time you get to the end, there are people without jobs, health care or enough food to eat.

If the electorate really understood this simple fact, we would have a revolution on our hands. But they don't and that's our problem. A failure to understand how skewed our distribution of income is distorts every debate we are trying to have in this country right now. Here are two examples.

dbrown04

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Saturday January 26, 2008 · 7:36 AM PST

2008/01/26 · 07:36

Hillary Clinton's choice to unleash Bill against Barack Obama still has a lot of people scratching their heads. From Wonkette, for example, we have

Stories about Bill Clinton fighting Barry Obama in his bid for a third presidency were all over the news this week, because people like to get upset. No one’s quite sure why he’s going so "out of control" these days — letting his face change color, composing Dadaist psychodramas about Barry’s past, sneering at reporters...

As a Clinton supporter, I've been a bit perturbed myself, until I recalled a certain brilliant maneuver by John Kerry in September 2004.

dbrown04

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Saturday November 03, 2007 · 2:12 PM PDT

2007/11/03 · 14:12

It seems to me that the deepest meaning of the Mukasey imbroglio has been missed in the analysis that I have seen on kos and elsewhere. But it is now showing up on Andrew Sullivan so I thought I would discuss it on kos also. If this point has already been made elsewhere, please let me know and I will take this diary down.

Sen. Whitehouse put the question on the table for Mukasey: Is waterboarding illegal?

What are Mukasey/White House options?

dbrown04

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Friday September 07, 2007 · 5:29 PM PDT

2007/09/07 · 17:29

George Packer has a must read in the New Yorker today. According to Packer, the surge has pretty much been a failure. Now we have to plan for defeat. Packer goes through the options replete with the painful consequences for each plan.

dbrown04

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Monday August 27, 2007 · 7:08 AM PDT

2007/08/27 · 07:08

Roger Cohen has an op ed this a.m. at the NYT apparently reporting on an interview with Zalmay Khalilzad. The litany of errors made on our path to our distastrous occupation of Iraq is a long and painful one. However, we have never heard a full account of how we ended up occupying rather than just liberating Iraq. Cohen is now reporting on Khalilzad and Powell's account of events.

Khalilzad’s anguish centers on May 6, 2003. That’s the day he expected Bush to announce his return to Iraq to convene a grand assembly — something like an Afghan loya jirga — that would fast-forward a provisional Iraqi government.

dbrown04

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Thursday August 23, 2007 · 8:12 PM PDT

2007/08/23 · 20:12

My husband and I went to see "No End in Sight," the Charles Ferguson film about what went wrong with the Iraq war. I'm assuming most of you are already familiar with this work. But if you're not, the film takes the viewer through the sequence of key Administration decision-making about the management of Iraq following the end of major combat operations. If you have kept up with your basic Iraq reading, e.g., Woodward: State of Denial, Ricks: Fiasco, Packard: The Assassins' Gate, etc., there won't be much new information. But the visual impact of the film is quite over-powering.

dbrown04

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Saturday June 16, 2007 · 7:15 PM PDT

2007/06/16 · 19:15

The immigration bill currently before Congress is heralded as a "grand compromise." Its a grand compromise, all right. Its a grand compromise between two wings of the Republican Party: the nativists and the business community. The business community wants cheap labor. That nativists want ..., well, you know what they want.

To his credit, Senator Kennedy tried to advocate for the human rights of migrant workers in a deal with the business community. However the nativists have turned this into a debate between protecting the integrity of all things American and a business community that just wants cheap labor.

Humanitarian concerns for migrant workers have retreated to the background.

dbrown04

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Saturday May 26, 2007 · 5:12 PM PDT

2007/05/26 · 17:12

Andrew Card was given an honorary degree at UMass Amherst yesterday. When his name was announced, he was booed for two solid minutes. His support for the war was the main source of objection. According to WBUR, the University President could not be heard conferring the degree. Card just accepted the degree, smiled and returned to his seat.

One of the most critical questions floating around the anti-Iraq war movement is why the lack of passion. I've heard repeatedly comments from people who attended both anti-Vietnam demonstrations in the 1960-70s and anti-Iraq demonstrations in the 2000's that the passion just isn't there today. For those who attend, its more pro-forma today than it was 35 years ago.

dbrown04

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Wednesday May 09, 2007 · 10:43 AM PDT

2007/05/09 · 10:43

In my day job I worry about child labor in Nepal. In my night job I go to Little League games and ballet recitals. On a recent Saturday I attended my 7-year old daughter's T-ball game. I was deeply touched by the way the father-coach gently coaxed my reluctant baseball player into the game.

However, last Saturday I attended my older daughter's ballet recital. Early in the show, the 3 and 4 year olds are trotted out on the stage. These little girls are so crushingly innocent that the audience cannot control their spontaneous gasps and applause. Ten years ago, I would have been one of those parents; moved to tears by such sweetness. Last Saturday I found myself cold with rage.

RSS

All Roads Lead to our Medieval Distribution of Income

Obama's Kerry Moment

Game, Set, Match

G. Packer: Preparing for Defeat

Powell Speaks

just saw "No End in Sight"

I'm against the immigration bill

Andrew Card Booed for Two Solid Minutes

What are we doing to our beautiful children?